Parliament’s constitutional committee chairman, Mojmír Mamojka (Smer), asked parliament on February 3 to stop deliberations on a bill proposed by MP Daniel Lipšic (KDH) on Disclosing the Origin of Property and lawmakers complied by rejecting Lipšic’s initiative in the first reading, the TASR newswire reported.
“The identical proposal submitted by the Government is far more precise,” explained Mamojka to TASR.
The government proposal submitted by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer) was opposed by his coalition partner, the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) whose chairman, Vladimír Mečiar, said this topic violates the Constitution. Mamojka emphasised, however, that it is necessary to address the issue of unlawfully acquired property.
“It seems that something needs to be done about this legally,” he said, pointing to the fact that both the opposition and governing coalition have come up with similar initiatives.
Lipšic also pointed out that the Constitutional Court in 2008 ruled that the original proposal on proving origin of property, drawn up in 2005, violated the Constitution due to transferring the burden of proof on to the accused and its concept of retroactivity. That is why it is necessary, Lipsic thinks, to submit also a Constitutional amendment alongside the Property Bill to avert similar rulings of the Constitutional Court in future. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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